On 3 September, President Lazarus Chakwera signed into law the Presidential, Parliamentary and Local Government Elections Amendment Act, a piece of legislation intended to facilitate election day workers to cast their ballots. It does so by empowering the electoral commission to authorise workers (polling staff, political party agents, candidate representatives and members of the security forces) to vote where they are deployed, rather than having to return to the constituency in which they are registered. According to the government, the law is expected to enfranchise 80,000 of these voters. However, the law’s explicit exclusion of journalists and independent observers has been criticised by opposition parties and civil society, who have emphasised the important role these groups play in ensuring the integrity of elections. The law was enacted less than two weeks before the country’s general elections on 16 September.  

Sources: Parliament of Malawi, ISS Africa, Malawi 24    

In a report released on 5 August, the Malawi Human Rights Commission revealed that prisoners at the country’s Mikuyu 1 Prison had been subjected to serious human rights abuses. The Commission’s investigation, carried out in January 2025, confirmed the death of one inmate from traumatic injury and found allegations that five inmates had been tortured to death and then buried in secret. It also established that prison staff had sanctioned beatings by prisoners against other inmates, that more than 100 prisoners were severely malnourished and that the abuses had contributed to a mental health crisis within the facility.

Sources: Malawi Human Rights Commission, Nation Online 

On 16 July, Malawi’s Constitutional Court delivered a judgement striking down a section of the penal code criminalising defamation, finding that it was a disproportionate and unjustified restriction on freedom of expression and therefore unconstitutional. The ruling, which took had immediate effect, prohibits further prosecutions under the offending provision. It was welcomed by the Malawian chapter of the Media Institute of Southern Africa, which said that the threat of prosecution for defamation had had a chilling effect on journalists, activists and ordinary citizens. The case was brought by social media activist, Joshua Chisa Mbele, who had been charged with defaming Malawi’s then-Army Commander, General Vincent Nundwe. 

Sources: Southern African Litigation Centre (1), Centre for Human Rights - University of Pretoria, Africa Legal, Southern African Litigation Centre (2)

On 20 December, Malawi’s National Assembly passed three bills, which will introduce a comprehensive regulatory framework for the judiciary that is intended to strengthen its independence and accountability. Among other things, the new framework expands the powers of the judicial regulator, the Judicial Service Commission, it creates an Independent Complaints Commission to receive and address public grievances against judicial officers, and it establishes a Judiciary Fund to ensure adequate funding for the judicial system and protect its financial independence. The long-awaited reforms have been championed by the Malawi Law Society which, among other organisations, has alleged systemic corruption within the country’s judiciary. On 28 January, State House announced that President Chakwera had assented to the Judicial Service Administration Bill and the Constitution (Amendment) Bill. No mention was made of the third bill, the Courts (Amendment) Bill.    

Sources: Parliament of Malawi (1), Parliament of Malawi (2), Parliament of Malawi (3), Malawi Law Society, The Tablet, Deutsche Welle, Capital FM Malawi